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Tim Leiweke is scheduled for an ice-bucket dunking at the Air Canada centre on Wednesday afternoon.

But first, he tried to throw cold water on speculation he’s leaving Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, barely a year after taking the challenge to run the $2-billion empire.

A tweet from respected Hockey Night in Canada reporter Elliotte Friedman on Tuesday said Leiweke was looking at the door, perhaps not today, but long before anyone expected. That brought forth a plethora of theories as to what or who had suddenly soured the president on working here after his high-profile hiring from U.S. giant Anschutz Entertainment Group.

Was there difficulty working with MLSE’s majority owners, comprised of rival communications titans Rogers and TSN? Was the so-far failed attempt to involve the company in luring an NFL team a major blow? Will Leiweke be offered a top position with the new ownership of the L.A. Clippers? Has his family had enough of the north after just one brutal winter away from Los Angeles? Could he return to AEG? Would the Leafs’ 100th anniversary season in 2017 be an ideal time to step aside? Or did he have a two-year shelf life to begin with?

“Any report stating that I am leaving MLSE is untrue,” Leiweke responded in a release as his office was immediately flooded with media calls. “We are completely focused on the seasons at hand (Leafs, Marlies, TFC, Raptors) and I am not thinking of anything else but that. I am proud of all that we have accomplished here over the past year, but we have much more to do.”

Yet for those wondering if Leiweke is having second thoughts about what he can accomplish here, Tuesday’s denial didn’t rule out his leaving before something truly meaningful, such as a Leaf Stanley Cup or an NBA championship or an MLS soccer title. Leiweke never made a life-long commitment to this new job.

But he already made an impact hiring Brendan Shanahan as president of the Leafs and Masai Ujiri as Raptors GM. He then stepped back to let both men run their own show and make a number of changes to various parts of the operation.

Ujiri dealt the difficult Andrea Bargnani and got a good return to boot, then dumped another seemingly untradeable contract in Rudy Gay. Shanahan hasn’t yet taken the broom to his hierarchy but that may come if the Leafs don’t show some signs of improvement next season. Meanwhile, Shanahan cleaned out the assistants for Nonis and Carlyle and installed a hand-picked team, with a nod to exploring the new world of analytics in the hockey department. He’s also been reviewing every aspect of the lesser-known divisions of the hockey club.

Leiweke, a 57-year-old native of St. Louis, takes special pride in the turnaround of TFC, which had fallen so far after its early successes. “Tell (TFC) fans not to worry,” Leiweke told the Sun’s Kurtis Larson on Tuesday in response to the talk he was bailing. “I am focused on getting TFC in the playoffs and just renewed my tickets for this year’s playoffs.”

A source with knowledge of Leiweke’s TFC plans told Larson: “Tim is fully on the job. When it is time for him to go, he will have set up TFC for long-term success and all of Toronto’s sports scene will be better off for the time he spent here.”

But, given all the time and effort that went into finding Richard Peddie’s replacement as president and CEO, filling Leiweke’s role in the changing MLSE universe could prove that much harder.

TIM TIMELINE

April 26, 2013: Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment announces it has hired Tim Leiweke as president and CEO, bringing him over from Anschutz Entertainment Group in Los Angeles.

May 20, 2013: News breaks that Leiweke will offer then-Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo a corporate, non-basketball job in the organization.

May 31, 2013: News breaks that former Denver Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri has agreed to become president/general manager of the Raptors. “A lot of people didn’t think he would come. A lot of people didn’t think he would leave Denver,” Leiweke said.

July 15, 2013: Leiweke tells Bloomberg he already has planned the Maple Leafs’ Stanley Cup parade route. “I have it planned out and it’s going to be fantastic.” He also says he wants a break from tradition, angering many fans and ex-players. “I don’t want the players walking in the hallways of the Air Canada Centre and seeing pictures from 1962,” Leiweke said. “Get rid of those pictures and tell them, ‘This is your legacy.’ ” He later apologizes for the comment.

April 14, 2014: After the Leafs collapse and miss the playoffs, Leiweke hires Brendan Shanahan as team president. “I look at that locker room and I look at the players we have in there and I think our fans deserve better,” Leiweke said.

April 19, 2014: The Raptors win the Atlantic Division under Ujiri, but lose series with Brooklyn in seven.

June 25, 2014: Leiweke makes a speech to the Toronto Region Board of Trade. “The NHL would reach unparalleled heights if and when the Leafs compete for ... a Stanley Cup,” Leiweke said. “If we could ever lift up that silver shiny thing, the impact we would have on this league would be phenomenal ... If the Maple Leafs play for the Stanley Cup, we are going to have 20 million people watching that game.”

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